Glenn Beck's Ratings Collapse

Fox News' Glenn Beck might be a one-man $32 million media empire (books, radio shows, tours and more!) but what's going on with his marquee Fox News show?

The Los Angeles Times' Joe Flint reports that News Corp.-owned Fox News cable news ratings are still high above the competition. But Glenn Beck's total number of viewers are down by almost 30%, from 2.9 million in January to 2.1 million in April.

Glenn might not be the rising ratings juggernaut month to month, like he has always been. But he's still a powerhouse in the 5 p.m. timeslot. As Joe writes, "the decline in his audience has hardly made a dent on the lead he enjoys for his 5 p.m. festival of emotions. His rivals should hold off a little on popping the Champagne."

Michael Calderone at Yahoo! News has a similar assessment: "Even with smaller ratings numbers, he's still the second-highest-rated cable news host, behind only his Fox colleague Bill O'Reilly. And Beck's year-to-year drop since April 2009 was more modest than others — 7 percent among total viewers and 6 percent in the age 25-54 demographic (the viewership advertisers most covet)."

Here's how the other cable news personalities are doing, year over year, in April:

April 09- April 2010 in the 25-54 demo:

Fox News' Bill O’Reilly– down 3%

MSNCB's Rachel Maddow – down 8%

Fox News' Greta Van Sustren – down 13%

Fox News' Sean Hannity – down 17%

MSNBC's Chris Matthews – down 23%

MSNBC's Headline News – down 26%

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann – down 28%

CNN's Wolf Blitzer – down 37%

CNN's Campbell Brown – down 39%

CNN's Anderson Cooper – down 41%

CNN's Larry King – down 46%

Glenn shouldn't feel too shabby today. His Fox News colleague, Sarah Palin, wrote gushing praises in a profile of him for the Time 100 of the world's most influential people, where he made it in at No. 12.

"Who'd have thought a history buff with a quirky sense of humor and a chalkboard could make for such riveting television?" she wrote.